"Welcome to the 'Anthropocene' --- a new epoch in our planet's 4.5 billon year history. Thanks to the colossal changes humans have made since the mid-20th century, Earth has now entered a distinct age from the Holocene epoch, which started 11,700 years ago as the ice age thawed. That's according to an argument made by a team of scientists from the Anthropocene Working Group. Scientists say an epoch ends following an event --- like the asteroid that demolished the dinosaurs and ended the late Cretaceous Epoch 66 million years ago --- that altered the underlying rock and sedimentary layers so significantly that its remnants can be observed across the globe. In a paper published Thursday in Science, the researchers presented evidence for why they think mankind's marks over the past 65 years ushered in a new geological time period."
From the January 11, 2016, New York Times story: Signs of the 'Human Age.' Written by Nicholas St. Fleur.
That is absolutely terrifying.
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